Saperda (Lopezcolonia) alberti Plavilstshikov, 1915
[= Saperda decempunctata Gebler, 1830]
[= Nietzscheana plutenkoi Zubov, 2014]

Subfamilia: LAMIINAE  /  Tribus: SAPERDINI

Saperda alberti
[Photo © Kirill V. Makarov, click on the picture for 4K resolution]

Saperda alberti, a North-Asian species distributed from western Siberia to Japan, reaching the maximum of abundance in the Russian Far East, has been described from Baikal Lake environs (Russia) as Saperda decempunctata by Friedrich August Gebler in 1830 [▽]. This name was preoccupied, so it was changed into valid present one by Nikolai N. Plavilstshikov in 1915 [✧]. S. alberti is ecologically associated with woody plants of the Salicaceae family (Populus, Salix, Chosenia), in the wood of which its larvae develop. Females lay eggs in bark crevices of dying, physiologically decaying or freshly windfelled host trees. Larvae feed subcortically, creating galleries filled by frass. The last instar larvae, before the second overwintering, enter the sapwood and create hook-shaped pupal cells longitudinal to the stem. In the case of thick bark, pupation cell can be created in the bark. Pupation during spring after the second overwintering (life-cycle 2 years), adults emerge from early June and are active in the nature to August. Adults live a hidden way of life, do not visit flowers and can also be revealed thanks to their maturation feed on fresh leaves and shoots of host trees [❖].

Body length:13 - 24 mm
Life cycle:2 years
Adults in:June - August
Host plant:oligophagous in Salicaceae (Populus, Salix, Chosenia)
Distribution:Russia (Siberia, Far East), China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea and Mongolia


Depicted female beetle was collected at Listvennichnaya (Лиственничная) river under Kamenystyi (Каменистый) creek estuary (N43°35′47″ E131°21′53″; 400 m a.s.l, Borisovskoye Plateau, South of Primorsky krai, Far Eastern Federal District, Russia) on May 30, 2019.

Collected by Yu.Sudnikov


[▽]
Gebler F.A.:
Allgemeine Bemerkungen über die im Kolywan-Woskresenskischen Hüttenbezirke vorkommenden Insekten.
In: Carl Friedrich von Ledebour: Reise durch das Altai-Gebirge und die songorische Kirgisen-Steppe 2 (3): 228pp, 1825. [download pdf icon]

[✧]
Plavilstshikov N.N.:
Notices synonymiques sur les Longicornes (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae).
Revue Russe d'Entomologie, Saint-Petersbourg 15 (1): 79-80, 1915. [download pdf icon]

[❖]
Cherepanov A.I.:
Cerambycidae of Northern Asia, Volume 3 - Laminae Part III.
Oxonian Press, New Delhi: 395pp [pages 30-37] , 1991. [download pdf icon]



 
SubfamiliaLamiinae Latreille, 1825
TribusSaperdini Mulsant, 1839
GenusSaperda Fabricius, 1775
SubgenusLopezcolonia Alonso-Zarazaga, 1998
SpeciesSaperda (Lopezcolonia) alberti Plavilstshikov, 1915